\n<\/p>\n
Under the Act, some existing race-related offences will also be ported over or updated.<\/p>\n
Sections 298 and 298A of the Penal Code 1871 on offences relating to race will be repealed, said MHA.<\/p>\n
These offences will be superseded, with updates, by sections 39 and 40 of the new law, to cover conduct that:<\/p>\n
The Act introduces defences for these offences that are already present in the MRHA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese include defences for private or domestic conduct, as well as for pointing out matters in good faith for the purpose of bringing about a removal of those matters,\u201d said MHA.<\/p>\n
The new law also introduces the Community Remedial Initiative, a programme that allows individuals to take remedial action after engaging in conduct affecting Singapore\u2019s racial harmony.<\/p>\n
In deciding whether to institute proceedings against a person for certain race-related offences, public prosecutors may consider whether the person has satisfactorily completed the programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gives an alleged offender the opportunity to learn from and make amends for his racist conduct, thereby soothing communal tensions and repairing ties between the communities,\u201d said MHA.<\/p>\n
The programme will not be offered for egregious cases, such as those involving incitement of violence or conduct that severely undermines social cohesion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese cases will continue to be considered for criminal prosecution. This sends the right signal that such conduct will not be tolerated,\u201d said the ministry.<\/p>\n
The Act will set safeguards against foreign influence for designated race-based entities, similar to those currently applied to religious groups under the MRHA.<\/p>\n
Designated race-based entities must disclose foreign and anonymous donations, foreign affiliations and leadership composition, and comply with leadership restrictions.<\/p>\n
MHA said it would engage race-based entities before designating them and guide designated entities on the reporting requirements ahead of their first reporting obligation in April 2028.<\/p>\n
The home affairs minister will also be able to impose stepped-up measures against specific race-based entities by issuing foreign influence restraining orders.<\/p>\n
This is to \u201cpre-empt, prevent, or reduce foreign influence that may undermine racial harmony and present a threat to public peace and public order in Singapore\u201d, said MHA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foreign influence restraining orders are subject to the same safeguards as racial content ones, it said.<\/p>\n
The Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill was passed unanimously by parliament in February 2025. Several Workers’ Party MPs, however, voted against the accompanying constitutional amendment that updated the president’s powers. WP chair Sylvia Lim argued that the responsibility of maintaining racial harmony, law and order, should lie with the government and not the president<\/span><\/p>\n The new law strengthens Singapore’s ability to preserve racial harmony, respond effectively to emerging threats and safeguard its multicultural society against malicious foreign influence, said MHA.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with ongoing efforts to promote mutual understanding and trust among communities, the Act will help ensure that Singapore remains a cohesive and harmonious multiracial society.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n UPDATES TO RACE-RELATED LAWS Under the Act, some existing race-related offences will also be ported over or updated. Sections 298 and 298A of the Penal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--4nX4YcV_--\/c_crop,h_537,w_956,x_3,y_3\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2023-11:afp_watermark_14112023,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/people-orchard-road-walking.jpg?itok=Usxu2e4z","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[627,9019,8143,9383,2302,863,23964,10861,3588,22],"class_list":["post-84874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-appointed","tag-council","tag-effect","tag-harmony","tag-inaugural","tag-law","tag-presidential","tag-racial","tag-sep","tag-singapore","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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